Unexpectedly Sweet
by horrific-precision
Summary: (One-shot)- Kim can't sleep because of the snipping noises sounding from the kitchen. Realizing who it probably is, with a bit of hesitation, she sneaks out of bed and to the kitchen to find a trembling Edward with a new scratch on his face, one that he can't possibly patch up by himself.


For Kim, it was too early to be awake. Much too early. It wasn't the fault of some strange sleeping pattern that she was currently stirring at four in the morning, but something else entirely different.

Chop.

Chop.

Chop.

_Snip._

The rhythmic sounds from the kitchen that had prevented her from sleeping halted abruptly, the silence following seeming too quiet to divert any curiosity that might have been planted. Kim slowly raised herself to a sitting position, enjoying the last warmth of her sheets before leaving them and tiptoeing out of the room. She had a sneaking suspicion about what had created the noise. The strawberry blonde bed-head peeked through the doorframe and into the kitchen to spot exactly who she thought would be standing there.

It was Edward. The young teenager couldn't help but let out a nervous breath. Though the mysterious man had been living in her home for more than a week due to the much too kind nature of her mother, she still wasn't used to him. He was incredibly awkward in her mind, hardly saying anything at all, as if he had trouble with communicating with another person properly. Though it wasn't only that small flaw that made her jittery. It was mostly his strange appearance that put her off; the incredibly pale skin, the wild ebony locks that stuck out from every angle, and especially his hands. Instead of normal digits that any regular human would have, his fingers were instead constructed out of sharp blades that he had a tendency of snicking together when anxious, which was too often, about scaring the living daylights out of Kim every time. Edward made her so nervous that she was scared to even be in the same room as him.

She silenced her thoughts for the moment, realizing that something was amiss with the wild-haired man. He was just standing there, a cutting board full of neatly chopped vegetables at the counter before him. Kim leaned forward a little and squinted, trying to comprehend why he was staying stock still. Her eyebrows furrowed worriedly as she surmised the situation. He was trembling. His sharp fingers clacked together slightly, a hard metallic sound issuing from them as his dark eyes gazed at something at the tip of one of the knives. The observer tilted her head. What was wrong with him? She exhaled softly, setting her jaw firmly as she made up her mind to find out. Though she was a little frightened of him, she wasn't heartless enough to leave the poor man quivering there all night.

Kim pushed her barefoot out onto the chilly tile, started to say something and, realizing it would sound similar to something like a petrified mouse squeak once vocalized, took a deep breath and tried again.

"Umm.." She cleared her throat. ".. Hey."

Edward started slightly, turning his eyes to the girl that stood partially hidden by the doorway. He didn't utter anything, only remained in the same position, his body racking with shivers.

Kim cautiously stepped a little closer.

"Uh.. What's wrong? Are you cold, or-"

She cut her own sentence off as through the nicks already present from past accidents on his face, she spotted a new one, long, crimson, and starting to ooze down his pale cheek. Her eyes averted from his features for a moment to glance down at a blood droplet balanced on the tip of one of his glinting blades.

"Oh, you cut yourself..? It.. it looks like it hurts."

His face showed no change of emotion from the blank mask he usually wore, causing Kim to bite her lip at the unresponsiveness she was receiving. Edward was just.. staring at her. Was there something on her face?

Wide-eyed, the girl touched a finger to her lips, wondering if some of the Butterfinger she had snuck under her mattress and eaten after her parents retired for the night had lingered on her mouth. Shaking her head, she dismissed the thought and instead beckoned to Edward.

"Come on, we should get you cleaned up.. Since you.. you probably can't do it yourself."

Kim turned and quietly padded to the bathroom while trying to remember where the cotton swabs and antiseptic were. Edward followed directly behind her, nervously clacking his fingers against each other as he stiffly shuffled after her.

Entering the small restroom, the teen, still blinking sleep from her involuntarily drooping eyes, opened the bathroom cupboard and began to search for the necessary bottles and packages. She paused, realizing that her timid patient stood uncertainly outside the room, debating on whether or not he should proceed further than the doorframe.

"Ah.. um, you can.. come in."

Kim waved her hand a bit absentmindedly over to the toilet seat, then resumed her search. The wild-haired man's nod was hardly noticeable as he obeyed and seated himself in the spot designated by the distracted teen.

"Aha! Found 'em."

With her eyes on the bottle of antiseptic as she unscrewed the lid and with a cotton-ball pinned between her finger and the container, she turned to face Edward, her fear of him slowly evaporating for the moment as her mind was currently on a task she had to perform. While tipping the bottle of solution onto the cotton-ball, she assessed the damage that he had inflicted on his face. It didn't seem too bad, especially not compared to the other scars marring his once perfect features. Perhaps it wouldn't even leave a mark once healed.

She couldn't help but mutter an awkward, "Um.." as she moved closer, armed with the necessary means to clean out the cut.

"Just.. hold still, okay?"

Kim pushed the soaked cotton to his face, trying not to notice his dark orbs moving from her hand to her face several times as if dissecting her every feature and storing any small detail in his brain to keep forever. Her cheeks became warmer than they usually were, and she was sure that Edward could see the pink flush dusting her face. A final dab was given, and she turned away quickly, clearing her throat as she hid her visage from him, extracting a bandaid from the cupboard. Trying to hide her embarrassment, Kim hastily placed the bandage over the cut, the result being a little lopsided.

"Ohh.. now it looks silly."

Without even thinking, she lunged forward suddenly to fix her mistake, entirely forgetting the sharp blades that lay in Edward's lap. He retracted them from the place where they rested just in time before one could spear Kim in the stomach. His eyes were wider than Kim had ever seen them. She took in a sharp breath as she realized what she had almost caused.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I just.. I'm sorry. I.."

" ... Are you all right?"

Edward's quiet voice that she rarely heard at all was filled with such blatant concern that she froze for a moment, a little shocked to say the least. It took her a moment to fully comprehend what the man before her said.

"Oh... Yes! I'm.. I'm fine."

Kim pushed a hand to her stomach, more to convince herself that all was well and that no intestines were poking out of places they shouldn't be. She allowed a breathy laugh slip past her lips along accompanied by a quick, relieved grin. Edward glanced down to where her hand was resting, a soft smile slowly forming on his lips.

" ..Good. Be careful. ."

"Y-Yes. Sorry. Ah, let me fix this."

Kim resumed what she was in the process of doing before the unexpected shock seconds before, eyebrows furrowed in concentration and nose almost brushing against Edward's cheek.

".. There. You're all patched up now."

A satisfied smile lit up Kim's face as she nodded in satisfaction at her work, even though it was just a mere accomplishment. Forgetting what his fingers consisted of, Edward lifted a blade to his face to feel the bandage, but stopped abruptly and lowered his digits.

"Thank you."

He graced her once more with a slow smile, catching Kim off guard as much as his compassion toward her had before. She noticed the close proximity between both of them in an instant and stepped back, pushing things back into their places a bit haphazardly. Edward silently stood, waiting for her to finish.

"Ah, well since this is all done, I'm going back to bed. Err... have a good night? And be careful not to nick yourself again, I can't be tending to your cuts all the time, you know."

Realizing that she might've sounded a little harsh, Kim turned to face the quiet man, her face still a flaming mess from the interaction before and the abrasive tone she had just applied to her voice to simply sputter,

"Just.. night. See you tomorrow."

She then fled the bathroom as quickly as she could, cursing herself for sounding so stupid and even more so by getting swept away by the mysterious man's surprisingly gentle nature. Perhaps she would have had an urge to sneak in a tiny kiss if she had seen the sweet smile that was present on his lips, the dark eyes that darted after her figure, and the way he softly uttered,

"Goodnight, Kim."


End file.
